A Russian man accused of developing and distributing the Citadel Banking Trojan, which infected nearly 11 Million computers globally and caused over $500 Million in losses, has finally pleaded guilty to charges of computer fraud.

Mark Vartanyan, 29, who was very well known as “Kolypto,” pleaded guilty in an Atlanta courtroom on Monday to charges related to computer fraud and is now co-operating with federal prosecutors in return for a reduced sentence of no more than five years in prison.

Microsoft’s Application Verifier tool can be used by attackers to grab control of antivirus software, researchers say.

Security researchers have discovered a new attack called DoubleAgent that uses a Windows bug-fixing tool to turn antivirus into malware.

The DoubleAgent attack is detailed by Israel-based security firm Cybellum, which claims to have confirmed it can compromise products by Avast, AVG, Avira, Bitdefender, Trend Micro, Comodo, ESET, F-Secure, Kaspersky, Malwarebytes, McAfee, Panda, Quick Heal, and Norton. The company says other antivirus products are also likely to be vulnerable.

The attack relies on Microsoft Application Verifier, a runtime verification tool used to discover bugs and improve the security of third-party Windows applications. The tool ships with Windows XP through to Windows 10.

With the rise in the mobile market, Adware has become one of the most prevalent mobile threats in the world. Adware has traditionally been used to aggressively push ads like banners or pop-ups on mobile screens to make money.

The troublesome part is that Adware is now becoming trojanized and more sophisticated, as it aggressively collects personal data from the mobile device it’s installed on, including name, birth date, location, serial number, contacts, and browser data without users’ consent.